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When it comes to animated films, style is everything, or at least for a majority of people. (I only saw the masterful Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in theaters because all my friends who were animation students were going for the sole purpose of studying its art style.) On that note, Shrek 5’s first-look clip has stirred up a lot of feelings amongst fans. More specifically, people freaked about its updated character designs. Now, one video really puts into perspective just why the internet should chill out (and I totally agree).
A clip from the Double Toasted podcast was posted on YouTube and, in the clip, pundits debated what we’ve seen so far of the highly anticipated Shrek 5. The crux of fans’ disappointment with the footage is essentially that it greatly differs from the style that was presented in the original four films, the first of which hit theaters way back in 2001. One of the commenters opened up about how nostalgic feelings play into this:
This is what got me a little riled up, people’s nostalgia and attachment to things puzzle me sometimes. This is the problem: some people just don’t like change.
I’ll be the one to say, he’s got a point. As mentioned during the discussion, fans have also been comparing the new clip to the now-infamous OG Sonic the Hedgehog design, and even the Sonic team responded to the Shrek debacle. On that subject, in the Double Toasted clip, the two pundits did opine that the two situations are not comparable.
What’s also articulated in the clip is an aspect of art as a medium, and I think people forget this. Fans may say they want the original style, but an artist may actually feel differently. On that subject, the following was said:
There is no artist that did something twenty-five years ago and still wants their art to still look like that.
Now, while their time frame is off by a year or two, they are correct. Since the original movie, each installment of the Shrek franchise just improved on the style of the previous title little by little. If you were to watch every movie in order of release, the jump in quality would be noticeable and, given the gap between the fourth and fifth movies, it’s especially evident.
In the Double Toasted video, they talk a bit more about how any artist might have long-held aspects of their art that they appreciate along with other elements they may not care for. That could very well ring true for a long-standing animated franchise like Shrek. Especially since, at the time, having to work on the OG film was actually a punishment for DreamWorks animators.
Funny enough, someone on TikTok “fixed” the new footage. What the person basically did was just bring the eyes closer together, and plenty of fans seemed to be pleased with that.
I personally don’t mind the art style difference, mainly because this is just a twenty-eight second cast announcement teaser. Essentially, we’ve just seen a tiny morsel of this film thus far, so I’ll wait to see what else lies ahead, before I make any other kinds of judgements. We’ll be able to see Shrek 5 in its entirety when it opens in theaters on December 23, 2026.